Ancient Cosmetology

By staff reporter HUO JIANYING

A Tang Dynasty court lady with olive-shaped eyebrows.

ZHANG Chang, Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D.25) high-ranking official, was probably the first person in China ever to be hauled up on a charge of illicit cosmetology.

The event occurred 2,000 years ago in Chang’an, capital of the Western Han Dynasty. As Emperor Xuandi, named Liu Xun (91 B.C.-A.D. 49), was attending to his duties one morning, the district inspector of public morals arrived to report on a scurrilous rumor: that Metropolitan Governor Zhang Chang personally traced in his wife’s eyebrows each day. As this was an act that disgraced him and the imperial court and scandalized all of society the inspector recommended that Zhang Chang be severely punished.

However innocuous Zhang Chang’s actions might seem today, in performing an act of female beautification, albeit on his wife, he had seriously transgressed a feudal norm of conduct. Upon the emperor’s asking Zhang Chang if the rumors were true he answered: “Yes. But my private life has nothing to do with state affairs or anyone else. There are far deeper degrees of marital intimacy between husband and wife than tracing eyebrows, but no inspector would ever question whether or not they are within the confines of decency. I don’t see that aiding my wife in her daily beauty routine is such heinous a crime.”

Zhang Chang was fortunate in serving a wise and open-minded emperor who considered his argument reasonable, so neither punished nor reproved him. Zhang Chang’s career was nevertheless affected. A competent administrator, his political talent won him respect and trust, but Zhang was never again promoted. The common people, however, were touched by his husbandly love and care and the maxim “Zhang Chang traces eyebrows” became synonymous with marital love and harmony. The story was later adapted into a Peking opera.

Traced Eyebrows

A woman of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25).

“The kerchief defers to neither beard nor eyebrows (巾帼不让须眉).” This ancient saying describes a scenario where a woman surpasses a man. The kerchief was such common headgear for women in ancient times that it was used idiomatically to refer to them. Eyebrows as well as beards were strictly masculine because during the Han and Tang (618-907) dynasties women would shave their natural eyebrows and finely re-trace them in a more flattering shape, making them a facial focal point. Women of great beauty were called “e mei (娥眉),” literally “beauty eyebrows,” and even today the phrase mei mei (美眉), or beautiful eyebrows, is a term of address for beautiful young women.

Chinese women began penciling in their eyebrows during the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.) and by the Han Dynasty it had become common practice. Zhuo Wenjun, talented and scholarly beauty of the Han Dynasty, had penciled eyebrows that were compared with “distant hills,” and the black pigment, or dai (黛), she used became known as “distant hill black.” As dai pigment was made from natural ore it was expensive, so women of low social order were obliged to use ink or charcoaled twigs.

Eyebrow shapes were many and various. According to historical records, Emperor Xuanzong (685-762) of the Tang Dynasty commissioned an eyebrow pattern book, named Shi Mei Tu (Ten Eyebrow Patterns) for the use of court ladies. As apparent from Tang Dynasty paintings, however, the full scope of eyebrow shapes and subtleties of color was much broader. There were, for example, long, narrow and curving “willow leaf” eyebrows, as well as dense, short, olive-shaped “laurel-leaf” eyebrows which would not be thought in any way aesthetic today. Willow-leaf eyebrows (or e mei) were most popular and stayed the longest in vogue. The phrase “willow-leaf eyebrows and apricot-kernel eyes” exalted feminine beauty and was a fitting description of Yang Yuhuan, one of the four famous ancient beauties and favorite concubine of Tang Emperor Xuanzong. It may well have been in deference to her that the emperor did not want willow-leaf eyebrows included in the Shi Mei Tu.

Facial Makeup

A Tang Dynasty (618-907) woman.

Chinese people often use the phrase ping tou pin zu (评头品足: Criticizing the head and commenting on the feet) when discussing a person’s appearance, manner or bearing. This phrase reflects the ancient aesthetic concept of focusing on the head and feet, rather than body, of a woman when assessing her looks. For thousands of years, women hid their lineal beauty in loose, shapeless robes, which meant that their tiny feet, elaborate hairstyles, and carefully made up faces were the only visible aspects of their beauty.

According to historical documents, Tang Dynasty women applied facial makeup in seven steps: powdering the face, rouging the cheeks, gilding the forehead, tracing the eyebrows, rouging the lips, dotting the cheeks, and pasting on floral designs. Face gilding originated during the Southern and Northern Dynasties Period (420-589) when Buddhism thrived in China and, inspired by gilded Buddhist statues, women applied ocher to their faces. By the Tang Dynasty this Buddhist touch had become confined to the forehead and is still an aspect of theatrical stage makeup. Fairies as portrayed in Peking opera also wear a golden design on their foreheads.

The fashion for floral designs pasted between the eyebrows originated in the Southern Dynasties Period of the fifth century. The story goes that as Princess Shouyang lay beneath a tree one day a plum blossom fell on her forehead, leaving a floral imprint. It so impressed the court ladies that they made pink papercuts of plum blossoms to paste on their own foreheads. This practice became widespread in the Tang Dynasty when appliqués came in various designs -- flowers, fans and oxhorns -- and different materials -- gold foil, shells, isinglass and green bird feathers. Some women painted dragonfly wings and cut them in various patterns.

Dots on the cheek were originally a device used by concubines and court ladies to indicate to the emperor that they were menstruating, but later became a standard cosmetic feature. Initially, soybean-sized dots were applied, but later different shapes came into vogue, most notably a crescent linking cheek to ear. This style of makeup, known as the “sunglow,” was popular during the Tang Dynasty.

Figurine of a Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368) woman.

Hairstyling was also a major aspect of ancient cosmetology. Han Dynasty women believed that the higher their hair, the better they looked and achieved spectacularly “high-rise” hairstyles with the aid of kerchiefs and hairpieces. This fashion continued right through to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), when a head dress could add as much as one meter to a woman’s height. Tang Dynasty women, however, were less interested in height than in novelty and diversity of hairstyle. They were attracted to foreign hair fashions from the Western Regions, particularly that featuring hair cut in a fringe or “bangs.”

In 2003 a bone hairpin, comb and box of white face powder, were unearthed from a Tang Dynasty tomb in Ningxia. Amazingly enough the powder was still fine and smooth. One wonders and doubts whether any of today’s designer cosmetics would still be usable after 1,000 years’ underground storage.